Bruno MUNARI

Bruno Munari was defined as the first true all-round designer in Italian artistic history. Born in Milan in 1907, he is called "Leonardo's figure of the '900" because he was able to decline his thought in multiple disciplines and arts, just like Leonardo da Vinci. Eclectic, artist, intellectual, designer, writer, graphic designer are just some of the epithets that can be approached to his figure. During the 30s and 40s of the last century, if Lucio Fontana was defined by art critics as the spatial, Bruno Munari was called the perfect. To him we owe the birth of the modern artist who becomes a business consultant. Munari participates from a very young age in the artistic movement of Futurism, from which he differs in humor and lightness. In 1948, together with Atanasio Soldati, Gillo Dorfles and Gianni Monnet, he founded the MAC, a movement that will characterize and foment the Italian abstract current, leading many industrialists to seize the opportunity to combine art and technique. Negli anni 30’ inventa la macchina aerea: il primo mobile nella storia dell’arte. Nel 1933 crea le macchine inutili, una serie di oggetti di forme, pesi e misure diverse appesi in modo armonico fra di loro. From 1939 to 1945 he worked as a graphic designer for the publisher Mondadori and began writing children's books that were designed for his son Alberto. In 1948 together with other artists he created the Concrete Art Movement. In the 50s he created the negative-positive, a series of abstract paintings that leave the viewer the freedom of interpretation. In 1951 he created the arrhythmic machines and the illegible books. Munari’s research furtherly articulated, by concentrating on the subjects of machine and good design (he became a significant contributor for several industrial design brands such as Danese, with whom he collaborated since the 40s, realizing — among a vast catalogue of products —  the iconic Cubo ashtray in 1957, and the Falkland lamp in 1964) and distilling its fundamental principles. In the 60s Munari devoted himself to many serial works and visual and cinematographic experiments. Its production remains very active. Over the years his interest in the world of children increased and in 1977 he created the first workshop for children in a museum in the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan. In the 80s and 90s his creativity continues to design works and sculptures. Over the years he received many awards and died in Milan at the age of 91. /